Many high quality manufactured wood products require the use of wood components which are free of any imperfections, such as knots, splits, bowed edges, or the like. Thus it is conventional practice to manually inspect each board to locate any such imperfections, and to then manually pass the boards through a rip saw so as to remove the portion of the board containing the imperfection. As a result, a substantial portion of many of the boards becomes waste.
In one prior inspection and sawing process which is intended to reduce the waste, each board is delivered to an inspection station where a pair of parallel lines of laser light are projected so as to extend longitudinally along the length of the board. The positioning of the light lines are manually adjusted in the lateral direction, so that the operator is able to define one straight side edge of the board and the maximum clear area of the board from the identified straight side edge. The board is then delivered to a saw feeding table which is designed to support the board as it is fed longitudinally through a multiple rip saw. The saw feeding table includes provision for projecting a second pair of lines of laser light onto the saw feeding table in accordance with the setting provided by the operator at the inspection station for each board. The lines projected onto the saw feeding table are then used by a second operator at the saw feeding station to laterally position a movable guide fence, which is designed to engage one side edge of the board and which thereby serves to guide the board in its longitudinal advance through the multiple rip saws and so as to achieve the most effective use of the identified clear area of the board.
While the above system of inspection and sawing of the boards is reasonably effective in reducing waste, it is labor intensive in that two operators are required, and it is expensive in that two laser light systems are required. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an automated rip saw feeding apparatus which is able to avoid the above noted disadvantages and limitations of the prior system, and which is able to maximize the yield of the boards.
It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an automated multiple rip saw feeding apparatus wherein each board to be cut into components is automatically aligned with a multiple rip saw so as to maximize the yield of the board.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a saw feeding table of substantial longitudinal length, and which is able to transversely align boards sequentially delivered thereto in a rapid and highly accurate manner, and to maintain the accuracy of the alignment as the board is fed into the saw.